00:44 - ApothecaryI never saw the appeal of Pallbearer. Ok music, but not worth the enormous praise they've been getting by some. Didn't ever impress me much on album and when I saw them live with Deafheaven I wasn't really won over either

The French psychopaths make their long-awaited return after three and a half years since the band's last opus of groovy, grinding brutal death. Asylum Cave is Benighted just the way we've grown to love them, magnified by a whole lot more of everything.

Benighted are forward-thinking, backward-thinking, and any other directional-thinking. This album is full of good old brutal death metal meeting numerous schizophrenic tempo-changes, plenty of different sanity-questioning vocal styles, and elements of grindcore, deathcore, and others finding their way into the insanity.

Once again Benighted have produced an album of exceptional quality that is not only groovy and brutal to the power of infinity, but have created an album that is interesting and constantly stimulating. In a genre where originality and diversity are still mostly undiscovered relics, Benighted really do deserve their credit when originality and diversity are two of the core elements of their brutal sound.

Asylum Cave may be the band's best output to date, taking all of the good parts from Icon and amplifying them even further, producing an astonishing album of both musicianship and songwriting. The second half of the album may be a little less explorative than the first, but songs like the senseless "Swallow" are still among the best of the album. Songs like "Prey" from the first half however, take Benighted above and beyond anywhere they have been before in terms of groove and exploration.

Asylum Cave is a lunatic of an album, perfectly unbalanced in the head.

The French brutal beasts Benighted, after releasing one of their greatest albums, they have recorded another good one. Their music is brutal-grindcore, which sounds good. I have listened to a couple of songs and found Asylum Cave really interesting for one reason; listening to Benighted feels like you're on the stage with them. They are one of the greatest brutal death metallers who were raised from France and for me, Benighted have a very holy place in metal music. They play with their rhythms, and the playing of instruments is good and always interesting. I would like to be there live in their concert. This album is full of my favorite of the band's songs which also have a sense of humor. Unfortunately, I've lost the album! But I can memorize each and every track tempo and their riffs. I like the way that Truch sings on this album. He combines many skills and sounds with each other which makes really interesting song writing. His lyrics are, good and good enough and the guitar sound is simply brilliant! No matter though, as Benighted's fans know exactly how good the solos are. Their changing-tempo is really sweet! Kevin Foley is one of the best drummers of brutal death metal and I think he is one of the powerful reasons of Benighted's success. He performs quality sounds of drums and the bassist is also powerful and produces nice sounds.

Comments

I fucking agree, this album is addictive, catchy Brutal Death,this is THE headbanger's wet dream, I've been listening to this non stop. Good review XD

----Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

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!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

20.03.2011 - 20:43

!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

Didn't know this had leaked. I feel good times on the horizon.

Does it have that token wacky, baby toy/flamenco/rap, moment?

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!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

20.03.2011 - 21:31

!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

Yeah it's more brutal, more technical and even cleaner in the production but it's still very much Benighted. I do miss the more grindy elements but I'm positive more play throughs will reveal this album more and more, much like Icon did. I'm not convinced this is 9.5 material though.

I think giving this a 9.5 is a little too lenient. There are some dragging moments, and at times it's like Icon in a more convoluted way. Granted, there are a lot more pace-changing exploratory elements, but as a whole I was upset with the lack of brutality. Where I felt Icon (and Identisick, for that matter) achieved a perfect combination of deathgrind and BDM, this one seems to be more grind, less death. (I see Joe thinks the opposite, but it's not often we agree on Benighted's classification despite us both liking the band.)

I was honestly expecting something more along the lines of Abysmal Torment or Putrid Pile. Asylum Cave reminds me of early Aborted though. (Not a bad thing, just a little unexpected.)

I'd still personally give it a 9.0 or so. I mean there's no way I'm not listening to this repeatedly, the riffs are just too addictive and JT's vocal performance is as maniacal as ever. Production-wise I don't hear much of a difference between this and Icon, maybe the vocals are a little more apparent in the mix, but I think that's merely an attempt at balancing the insane soloing. And it's not like they changed their style completely - I don't mean to make it sound dramatic...although maybe that's why I don't like this as much as I thought I would. From Identisick to Icon the band changed a lot; both releases stand toe-to-toe in "best BDM album" discussions. I just don't see this one up there with those two.

All that being said, it's a top-notch deathgrind release if you ask me. I doubt it takes home an award as a potential death metal nominee, but this could do some serious damage in the grind category. And of course, regardless of its virtual hardware, this is still a kick-ass album and one any death metal or grindcore fans should listen to immediately.

This album is simply perfect. I get into it more and more every time I listen to it.

----
"In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity."
― Hunter S. Thompson
www.last.fm/user/Doom-Guild
www.facebook.com/TheDoomGuild

Well, you should have gotten used to Baz's tendency to be "a little too lenient."

----
Savor what you feel and what you see
Things that may not seem important now
But may be tomorrow

R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner

Satan was a Backstreet Boy

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!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

21.03.2011 - 14:37

!J.O.O.E.!Account deleted

I really don't know so far. This is sounding terribly close to that Recueil Morbide band at times; suffocating themselves under their own skill and trying too much in each song and resulting in some rather sterile sounding death metal tracks that lack that organic grinding groove and Napalm Death-driven aggressiveness. 'Swallow' for me feels like the most interesting track that harks right back to ICP and Identisick. Often the only track where I can sense much of the grind.

The drums are too prominent and hyper-aggressive (often consistent with that of a brutal/tech band, something Identisick never had - each beat was discernible) and the guitar tone is too sharp and cutting and again too spastic. I'm just splaying my thoughts out at the moment but this is so different from Identisick which feels comparitively punky, loose and gloriously fucking simple.

@Troy: Come on dude, listen to Identisick (and Icon) and tell me this record is not 10 times more brutal death than that? Even on Identisick's heaviest moments you can feel the groove of the guitar at every point whereas a lot of the time here it's just a fuzzy blur, and there are a fewer breakdowns. I finally concede to the arguments that Benighted are a brutal death band. THIS album is very much so. I can't headbang to this. Not without serious whiplash.

I'm not saying they aren't a better band for the changes they've made but it's not a band I can totally get on board with anymore. They've done a bit of a Gorod and traded melody and personality for speed and technical bravado. Unless this grows on me in the future this is capped at 7.5 at its peak.

@Troy: Come on dude, listen to Identisick (and Icon) and tell me this record is not 10 times more brutal death than that? Even on Identisick's heaviest moments you can feel the groove of the guitar at every point whereas a lot of the time here it's just a fuzzy blur, and there are a fewer breakdowns. I finally concede to the arguments that Benighted are a brutal death band. THIS album is very much so. I can't headbang to this. Not without serious whiplash.

I listen to those albums regularly, and although they are more catchy and contain more groove, I still feel (especially with Icon) both albums are more "brutal" in terms of the genre descriptor.

I'll bite my tongue for now - with the exception of my first analysis - like Baz said; I'll give it a few more listens and see if my opinion changes on anything (which I doubt, but just to be sure).

I will say this, regarding brutal death: I used to fit Benighted in with the bands I listed before (Putrid Pile, Abysmal Torment) in that they mix brutality with groove. With this though...I don't feel the mixing of both, just a more select focus on being insane but catchy. Not brutal and catchy. When I think BRUTAL death metal, I think recent Defeated Sanity, Pathology, Cerebral Effusion, etc. (none of which are overly catchy bands, if at all).

With this album, I'd give them similarity tags consisting of early Aborted and Blood Red Throne due solely to their level of groove.

A great fucking album for a great fucking Benighted fan like me... It's really amazing to see Benighted release awesome albums in a row starting right from Insane Cephalic Production every successor album happens to surpass its predecessor in terms of musicianship, quality, technicality and almost in every fucking aspect.... All thats left to say is Hail Benighted.. and great review as always

I think this album took a step back vocally. His vocals were great on Indentisick and decent on Icon, but now they are just annoying...and he won't shut up.
If the vocals weren't an issue, this is their best album.